CONVENTIONS are big business, and not just for the organisers and film studios. Stars can rake it in, too, and Arrow actor Stephen Amell has set up an agency to help them make even more.

The days of conventions being a slightly embarrassing live support system for faded stars are long gone.

Huge events in the United States and Europe are now used as a platform for the film industry to promote new projects and upcoming blockbusters.

As the events have expanded in scale, there is now a lot of money to be made for stars who attend. Some have even admitted that these days they will turn down a role if it clashes with potentially lucrative convention appearances.

The dawn of video sharing, films and movies on demand and bespoke TV channels devoted to cult shows has rebooted the way we consume entertainment and kept our love affairs with our favourites alive. Long after a show finishes, its stars can keep earning big money by working the convention circuit.

Arrow‘s leading man Stephen Amell set up his own talent agency, WFA Entertainment, to help actors negotiate their convention appearances.

He said: “If somebody wanted to do a convention every weekend, they could make more on the convention circuit than their episodic fee.”

London Comic Con event

Sun, May 29, 2016

Stormtroopers, Deadpool and Superman descended on London today as avid comic fans mingled in their favourite character costumes.
As many as 35,000 fans, dressed as characters from comics, films, cartoons and computer games, came together at the Excel Centre in east London and 135,000 are expected over the three-day weekend

The biggest stars can even charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single appearance.

At the top end, the current Marvel superhero titans can command over half a million dollars at events like the recent Comic-Con. As a former Doctor Who, Matt Smith can pull in $250,000 for a weekend convention.

Fans don't just go there to autograph hunt, these days there are always special talks hosted by their favourite stars.

Of course, the conventions are also the bread and butter of lesser-known actors who starred on cult shows.

Former Firefly actress Jewel Straite revealed that she supported herself on convention fees during her pregnancy last year.

She also gave us an intriguing glimpse into how much actors make for guest appearances on other TV shows.

Straite said: "A guest star on a TV show can [get] around $10,000, whereas you can work two days at a convention and pull in the same amount — and sometimes double and triple that.

"Have I turned down smaller jobs that won’t pay as much? Absolutely. It would be silly of me to say yes to the job that pays $10,000 for a week of work and bow out of a big convention where I could potentially walk away with $40,000 in two days.”